After some discussion with Rachael Miller, owner of Stormboarding and host of the original Stormboarding World Speed Ranking we have decided to continue the tradition here at Hardwater Kiting.

This is strictly for fun, GPS measured and is based on just "flat out" GPS measured top speeds. No measured courses, no average 10 sec runs, just a GPS in you pocket and your best top speed at the end of you session. Participation in the Stormboarding ranking was strong and world wide. After Stormboarding closed their doors in pursuit of more noble ventures like saving the oceans (www.rozaliaproject.org) there was a hole left for those who had participated in the ranking. We hope to fill that void and give people from around the world interested in pushing thier personal limits as well as some friendly competition a venue to compete with others, around the globe or in thier own back yards.

Do you know of any good, inexpensive GPS units, maybe without a map display, but one that will log my tracks? I have a Garmin that works OK, but I see that for speeds over 60, you want logs from more than one unit.

I have had problems with my GPS units shutting down on me in really cold weather, too. Any advice on that? Having them too deep in my clothing so they stay warm sometimes leads to lost signal.

As far as GPS units go many of us are using Garmin units. Etrex Legends, Fortrex and Forerunner 201 and 301 units. I carry a Foretrex, a GT-31 and my Transcend GPS goggles from Recon Instruments. All the units I've mentioned have excellent battery life, are downloadable and work pretty far below thier recommended operating temperatures. They are also water resistant.

As Plummet stated there are numerous smartphone applications available for GPS tracking. At this time there is still a lot of debate as to thier accuracy, especially when using GPS only and unable to triangulate using cell coverage. As many of us ride in areas that have no cell coverage we have opted not to accept cell phones as measuing devices in this ranking. \

I hope that helps. If you have any further questions please don't hesistate to ask.

One GPS unit brand to stay away from is Lowrance. The big, friendly, easy to use buttons get pushed by accident when its in your pocket, all your setting get mixed up and you lose your data. It even gets turned off. If I use it, I'll probably find some way to package it so those %#&*! buttons don't get pushed.

I have been looking at cheap, $50 - $60 dollar "backtrack" units. They look like they won't save your tracks, just save your previous location and help you get back to it. Anyone know of anything less expensive that will just save your track data?

Yeah Criznach has a good point. Handwarmers help a lot with function and battery life when it gets wicked cold. The problem with GPS units is they need a fairly clean shot at the sky to work accurately. If for example you carry in a chest pocket and you are tucking all the time your data can get messed up. I keep mine in a shoulder mounted pocket and a thigh pocket. Handwarmer with arm one when its really cold.

Garmin Etrex legends can be had for about $50 on ebay. The problem with the Etrex is they don't have a USB data cable. You have to be able to plug it into a serial connector and find an older computer that has a serial port for a printer. Not sure if the cable comes with the unit or not, I can't remember.